None
Research and development of this invention and Application have not been federally sponsored, and no rights are given under any Federal program.
Not Applicable
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to oral breath strips, in general, and to a resealable case for the easy carrying about of such breath strips, in particular.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known and understood, the use of oral breath strips as mouth fresheners is gaining wider acceptance through advertising and through word-of-mouth recommendations. Commonly made available for sale in 24 or 30 strip packages, a need has been determined to exist to make their carrying case easy to handle and store in one""s pocket or purse in allowing for retail sale at reasonable cost. Besides advantageously having a feature of xe2x80x9ctamper-proofxe2x80x9d construction in affording a degree of security in use, cases of these types also would benefit from an ability to allow removal of individual strips in a sanitary fashionxe2x80x94all in an easy and simple manner.
As will become clear from the description that follows, such a breath strip case according to the invention includes an open base having a cavity defined by a bottom surface and a first plurality of side wallsxe2x80x94along with a cover having a top surface, a second plurality of side walls, and an opening in the top surface for accessing the cavity. The case further includes a lid having length, width and depth dimensions to snugly overlie the cover once the cover is closed. First and second sets of projections extend outwardly along the first and second pluralities of side walls, respectively positioned so as to secure together when the cover is closed over the base.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the breath strip case is constructed with the sets of projections being positioned so as to secure the base with the cover once closed in a non-easily openable fit. The lid, at the same time, is arranged to snugly overlie the cover once closed in a substantially air-tight manner. In this preferred construction, as will be seen, the cover is coupled to a first end of the base in the rotatable closing of the base; the lid, at such time, is coupled to a second, opposite end of the base to rotatably open and close over the cover. As will be described, the cover is coupled to rotatably close the base when rotated in one of a clockwise and counterclockwise direction, while the lid is coupled to open and close atop the cover in a clockwise or counterclockwise rotation, opposite to that of the cover rotation. In a fabrication which allows the removal of individual oral breath strips in a sanitary fashion, the cavity of the base is selected to slope downwardly toward the second, opposite end of the base; at the same time, the cavity slopes upwardly above the base towards the top surface opening when the cover closes over the base.
With the base, cover and lid each composed of a clear plasticxe2x80x94preferably a flexible plasticxe2x80x94, upwards rotation of the lid from the cover exposes the cover""s opening to permit access through to the individual breath strips; because of the substantially air-tight fit between the lid and the cover, until such time, the oral breath strips are protected from any airborne contaminants that might be present. To facilitate the upwards rotation of the lid, a tab is provided, outwardly extending from an end of the lid remote from the base. To protect the oral breath strips against xe2x80x9ctamperingxe2x80x9d, the cover enclosing the strips within the cavity will be appreciated as being xe2x80x9chard-to-openxe2x80x9d. To accomplish this in the preferred construction of the invention, the first and second sets of projections are selected as separate tracks extending outwardly along the pluralities of side walls of the base and cover, and at positions where they snap together in closing the cover over the base. An effective xe2x80x9clockingxe2x80x9d of the cover and base thus results.
As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, ease of carrying follows by snapping the cover over the base, and snugly closing the lid over the cover to seal off its opening. When a breath strip is to be removed, the tab on the lid is simply grasped, and the lid rotated openxe2x80x94to thereby expose the opening in the cover through which the user can then reach in removing one or more oral breath strips as the case may be from the cavity storage within the base.